Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will soon come out with a policy to auction tanks filled with water through lift irrigation and other water-logging practices for fishing activities.
With around Rs 4,000 crore pending electricity billUsed to lift water from valleys and fill tanks for purposes of agriculture and drinking water, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Water Resources DK Shivakumar Said there is a serious financial concern in continuing with the scheme.
Responding to a question raised by BJP Tumakuru Rural MLA B Suresh Gowda in his constituency on a lift irrigation project in view of the serious concern of power generation for pumping water into tanks, Shivakumar said: “While we Intends to make water available through filling exercise.” For drinking water and farming activities, no one thinks of paying the electricity bill. Earlier, we had water unions of farmers who used to collect money to pay energy bills but now it is not so. As a result, we are planning to bring a policy to auction these tanks for fishing activities and generate revenue.
Shivakumar said that in almost every district where tank filling work has been started, electricity bills are pending up to Rs 6-8 crore.
“There is a lot of potential for fishing in these filled tanks, so we will use these funds to pay the electricity bills,” he added.
Meanwhile, intervening on the issue, Energy Minister KJ George said that his department is also exploring solar power to lift water from valleys for the tank filling exercise.
With around Rs 4,000 crore pending electricity billUsed to lift water from valleys and fill tanks for purposes of agriculture and drinking water, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Water Resources DK Shivakumar Said there is a serious financial concern in continuing with the scheme.
Responding to a question raised by BJP Tumakuru Rural MLA B Suresh Gowda in his constituency on a lift irrigation project in view of the serious concern of power generation for pumping water into tanks, Shivakumar said: “While we Intends to make water available through filling exercise.” For drinking water and farming activities, no one thinks of paying the electricity bill. Earlier, we had water unions of farmers who used to collect money to pay energy bills but now it is not so. As a result, we are planning to bring a policy to auction these tanks for fishing activities and generate revenue.
Shivakumar said that in almost every district where tank filling work has been started, electricity bills are pending up to Rs 6-8 crore.
“There is a lot of potential for fishing in these filled tanks, so we will use these funds to pay the electricity bills,” he added.
Meanwhile, intervening on the issue, Energy Minister KJ George said that his department is also exploring solar power to lift water from valleys for the tank filling exercise.